It was an interesting book, but I felt that the treatment of each disease was really very superficial. The author described a little bit about the time period, the symptoms of the disease, where it started and how it was spread and how the medical and/or religious community attempted to treat it. There was a little bit of discussion about how the plague affected society but nearly enough, in my opinion. I was hoping for a much more comprehensive look at how societies managed and were changed by plagues.